1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to containers, receptacles and the like that are adapted to be attached to a vertical pole, thereby providing a place to store or hold objects on the vertical pole. More particularly, the present invention relates to containers and receptacles that can be attached to any point along the length of a vertical pole.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Shade umbrellas are very common in recreational settings. For instance, people often bring umbrellas to the beach to shade the sun. Similarly, many picnic tables and patio tables have holes in their centers to retain a shade umbrella. The umbrella can therefore be used to shade the food on the table and the people eating around the table.
Vertical poles are the support of choice in supporting umbrellas. Vertical poles support the canopy of the umbrella overhead in a manner that is not highly obtrusive. The vertical pole of an umbrella commonly extends to the center of the canopy so that the canopy is balanced around the top of the pole. The canopy of most shade umbrellas is typically less than six feet in diameter. As a result any person sitting under the canopy of the shade umbrella would be within arms length of the vertical pole supporting the umbrella.
Since the vertical pole of a beach umbrella is within arms reach of a person under the beach umbrella, it would be convenient if the umbrella's vertical pole could be utilized for some secondary purpose. One such secondary purpose is that of an object support. People sitting at the beach have many objects that they do not wish to set into the sand. Such objects extend from jewelry that may get lost in the sand to food that can be contaminated with sand. Recognizing the need to hold objects above the sand, various receptacles have been invented that are intended to attach to an umbrellas pole so as to provide an elevated place to store objects. Such prior art devices are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,133 to Guerri, entitled Small Hanging Basket For Beach Umbrellas and U.S. Pat. No. Des 291,635 to Dickman, entitled Portable Tray For Attachment To A Beach Umbrella. In both the cited references, a receptacle is attached to the pole of an umbrella using a tube clamp that passes around the umbrella pole and a set key that passes through the tube clamp and tightens against the umbrella pole.
The prior art devices that use a tube clamp to engage a vertical pole have disadvantages. First, in order to move the tube clamp into position on the vertical pole, the tube clamp must be advanced over one end of the vertical pole. In many circumstances, this can not be done. For instance, if a shade umbrella has a support stand connected to its bottom and the umbrella's canopy is at the top, prior art supports that must slide along the umbrella pole cannot be used. Similarly, if the umbrella contains a hinge, a canopy lock or some other object that enlarges the diameter of the umbrella pole, prior art devices that use tube clamps also cannot be used.
Another disadvantage of prior art devices that use tube clamps is the poor holding strength provided by the tube clamp. Many shade umbrellas have poles that are made from thin metal tubing. If a prior art device with a tube clamp were used, the tube clamp can only be tightened a predetermined threshold amount before the locking key of the tube clamp would deform the umbrella pole. Since the tube clamp can only be tightened to a limited amount, the tube clamp only produces a limited degree of engagement with the umbrella pole. Consequently, prior art devices that use tube clamps are prone to slippage.
Yet another disadvantage of prior art devices that use tube clamps is that the tube clamp only works well on poles that have a diameter similar to that of the aperture in the tube clamp. If the pole is wider than the tube clamp aperture, then the tube clamp cannot be used. If the aperture of the tube clamp is much larger than that of the pole, then the tube clamp will not hold well and the tube clamp may cock to one side.
A need therefore exists in the art for a receptacle that is adapted to attach to a vertical pole at any point between the ends of the pole without having to slide along the pole from one of the ends. A need also exists for a receptacle that is capable of firmly attaching to any pole within a range of diameters without harm to that pole.
These needs are met by the present invention as described and claimed below.